


Don't Take It Personally

by demowrites



Series: Occupational Hazards [5]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 20:36:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19934122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demowrites/pseuds/demowrites
Summary: A kiss with a fist is better than none.





	Don't Take It Personally

“Don’t take this personally, but I think I love you.”

Argent retracted her claws, a cloud of pulverized brick littering the concrete between us. Her expression was somewhere between a smirk and a snarl but her mind was amused.

“You’re _still_ flirting? I thought we were fighting.”

“I think of myself as a great multitasker.”

A flash of silver, a dodge, a counter attack-- the choreography was different every time, but we had the routine down. Maybe my mind was just damaged enough to enjoy it, the way we fought and moved together, the banter, the way she was just so deliciously dangerous.

“Are you still dating that golden haired fly-boy?”

My mind was subject to the full range of her disgust for a moment as I dodged another swipe.

 _“No.”_

“Good, you’re too good for him.” 

Maybe I was unhinged, but she was too. Her mind was always a challenge, but there were always things that slipped through the cracks. Our desires were closely matched, but admittedly, she had a much better imagination than I did.

“I’m too good for you too,” her voice harsh, but the half formed smirk on her face was coy. _“Don’t take it personally.”_

A final dodge, tuck and roll, her frustration forming a small growl as I swung my leg over the bridge railing. I could see the quick calculation on her face before she realized what I was going to do.

“Everyone is too good for me,” I rested my hand on my chest, enjoying the moment far too much. “That’s the point of being a villain.”

“Coward.”

“Now, now. No need for name calling, we’ll meet again.”

“Next time, I’m going to rip that helmet off your head.”

“Oh?” My head cocked to the side just a bit, my smirk shielded by the infinite mirror of Insurgent’s mask. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

The last thing I saw before I jumped was her grin.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Another odd day at the Rangers HQ came to a close, my tech expertise finding some use as Ortega worked his way through his conspiracy theories and struggled with his computer.

Nothing new.

I knew the way well enough that I wasn’t expected to be escorted everywhere, much to the chagrin of Steel, but I was surprised when Argent was waiting at the elevator before me.

While Insurgent had her full attention, Ida barely got a passing glance. 

Her eyes were glued to her phone, both of us getting on the elevator without a word of greeting. 

Insurgent’s excursions hadn’t been so public the past few weeks, so there hadn’t been the opportunity for us to do our normal dance, or for her to follow up on her promise. 

She was trying not to think about it right now. 

“Ortega breaking all his tech again?” Ah, she was forcing herself. A distraction for herself, and an even better distraction for the telepath next to her who could easily hear her frustration over--

“Of course.”

“What a patient lover you are.” The words were empty, not intending to sound condescending but not really disputing the feeling either. 

I laughed, her eyes finally peeling from the phone in front of her. 

“Not romantic. Not ever.” 

“... I guess you’re smarter than I gave you credit for.” The barb was superficial, the corner of her mouth pulling up ever so slightly. 

The elevator shifted, slowing down to my floor.

I smirked, feeling a bad idea coming forward.

“I felt the same way when I heard about you and Daniel,” the small ding of the elevator was met with her eyes rolling. The doors opened, and I threw my words over my shoulder as I left.

“Don’t take this personally, but you are way too good for him.”

The sound of her metal hand slamming against the elevator frame echoed in the lobby, and I placed my most innocent face forward as I turned back to her, my concern properly smothering my smugness.

“Something wrong?”

Eyes narrowed, her lips parted slightly as if the words had stopped forming mid thought. I raised my eyebrows after a moment, and then her face seemed to smooth back over, forming a dangerously pleasant smile.

“It was good to see you again, _Ida._ ”

The doors closed around her once more.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I could do this all day,” she huffed, both of us at the end of a long chase, laborious breaths echoing in the tunnel. “But I’d really rather not.”

I leaned against the brick, giving her a minute to catch up, one of her claws dutifully supporting her exhausted frame.

“You going to kill me?” The distorter filtered my breathing out, making the words devoid of my amusement. 

“Haven’t decided yet,” she paused, pulling herself up to her full height. “But that helmet is coming off.”

“If you do that, all this fun we’ve had will be over,” my head rolled to the side, still leaning against the wall as I watched her move. “All the mystery will be gone, and you’ll have to play the hero and turn me in.”

She scoffed.

“I don’t _have_ to do anything,” she paused, eyeing me slightly as her smirk grew more pronounced. “Besides… who said the fun has to end?”

She stood before me now her silver form glowing just slightly from the remnants of light coming through some street grates above. Despite her air of confidence, I could feel something just below the surface, a mix of uncertainty, questioning without really knowing what the questions were for. Her motives? Her taste? What was under my helmet?

But she knew that. 

Her fingers were slow and deliberate, moving to remove my helmet. My hands twitch for a moment, moving towards her and freezing, both of us waiting to be stopped and neither of us wanting to do so.

A final tug and the movement caused my messy waves to tumble forward covering my face only briefly before a silver hand pull the hair away, the tug forcing my eyes upwards to meet hers. 

Her lips curled into a smirk, predatory, examining my face as if she’d never seen me before. Which to be fair, maybe she hadn’t-- not really. My life had been irrevocably split into two-- there was Insurgent and then there was Ida. On the surface there wasn’t much in common. 

Argent briefly replayed all the times she could remember interacting with me, which was thankfully limited. There was nothing in those moments that would have indicated this. Nothing in my careful insignificant facade that would have led her to believe that Ortega’s best friend and Herald’s former hero would be… _this_.

Her other hand grabbed the lip of my chest plate, pushing me further into the brick, her body pressed against my armor.

Whatever quip I had prepared was swallowed, her mouth finding mine with all the delicacy of car wreck. Kissing with weighted risk, knowing that any sudden movements would turn a kiss into a slaughter, left ears ringing and breath wanting.

We pulled apart, faces still too close with her hands wrapped around my skull and claws pointed at my heart. 

_So fitting._

“You are insane.”

“You’re into it,” she breathed, words surprisingly light despite the low growl they emerged in. Despite the obvious danger, a grin slipped through.

“Is this a bad time to ask what you’re doing later?”

She huffed a laugh, giving me a contemplative look before tipping my head to the side sharply and letting her lips graze the small, painfully sensitive area right below my jaw with a guest appearance from her deceptively sharp teeth.

Ignoring my curse as she bit, pulling her lips up to my ear. 

“I’ll call you… maybe,” she pushed away from me, keeping me properly pinned a moment longer as her lips fought to betray the act. “Don’t take it personally.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We laid there, legs casually entangled and sheets strategically left low so she could trace the geometric outlines of my tattoos. 

She wanted to see-to know- what I was hiding. It took every bit of restraint not to hide myself, to not retract my invitation of knowing despite the obvious skinship we now shared.

Her fingers traced down my spine, dull and round-- no longer the claws I had come to know, but rather the soft edge finger tips that traced my dull curves and carved their longing into my memory. Argent’s delicacy had warped my sense of danger even further, leaving the impromptu claw marks on my shoulder and one-sided, not-so-loving bites on my neck. 

I was prey, and I loved it.

So did she.

“I guess we have more in common than I thought.”

Her words were light, lips carrying endearment gently despite the fact that our situation was not simple- it was not ordinary. 

I watched her gaze trace down my back, her fingers still etching along the orange lines that contaminated my body. Her thoughts were surprisingly gentle, thoughtful, as she imagined what it felt like to have brandings like mine. She briefly weighed the psychological and physical weight that these brandings carried, comparing it to her own and then promptly pushing her own thoughts to the depths of the shards of her subconscious. 

Hiding the pain of her past in the presence of my own.

I rolled over, baring myself further as she watched me reach my bare arm out, fingers outstretched and asking. 

The slender metallic of her fingers entangled with mine, our digits now curling around each other quietly as a smile surfaced against my will. 

I looked to my right, her profile briefly consumed by the light of morning as the curves of her face pierced my vision, burning this moment in my memory.

Her eyes met mine, and I was still smiling.

“I guess we do,” I leaned forward, my lips brushing the smooth surface of her own, curved dangerously into her own smirk. 

“But don’t take it personally.” 

We both laughed before falling victim once again.


End file.
